


A Long Way from Paradise

by wildtrak



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Claustrophobia, M/M, Prison
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-23
Updated: 2018-03-22
Packaged: 2019-03-22 21:35:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13773051
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildtrak/pseuds/wildtrak
Summary: A hidden conspiracy threatens to destroy the Five-0 taskforce one by one. With Danny incarcerated and Steve on the run, everyone is just trying to keep their heads above water.Set somewhere between Season 4 & 5. Canon compliant up until that point.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just cleaning up some (very) old stories I never posted. This one is five years old... oops!

**\--- Halawa Prison --- 10:30 AM**

“Williams. Have a seat.” The psychiatrist gestures to the steel chair bolted to the floor. It’s the only real piece of furniture in the room, and the chair and Danny have a definite hate-hate relationship. It’s uncomfortable in the extreme, and it’s a miracle the guy gets anything at all out of his patients other than complaints about the chair. Danny doesn’t want to disappoint him.

“This chair fucking sucks,” Danny says as he sits. The psychiatrist looks nonplussed from the other side of the glass. 

“As you’ve said every time we meet. I know that you know you’re responsible for the situation you find yourself in, so I must admit I’m curious as to why you keep pointing out the obvious,” he responds, mildly.

Danny assumes his best disaffected slouch, and stares vacantly at his own reflection. If the guy wants to keep up the pretence that this will go any differently to the last hundred odd sessions, then who is Danny to deprive him of that optimism.

“I’m not telling you anything Doc. So you may as well have the boys take me back to my cell.” Danny is slightly pleased when the psychiatrist’s shoulders tighten. Every time Danny sees the guy, he looks closer and closer to a cardiac event. Danny should feel bad, but he doesn’t. 

“You’re no longer a detective, that badge has been rightfully stripped from you. Don’t you want a chance to explain your side of the story?” He asks, and Danny shakes his head. It was always the same opening gambit. 

“No can do compadre. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to catch some Z’s in this shitty chair.” Danny dramatically closes his eyes. He can’t see the look of righteous irritation on the shrink’s face, but he’s seen it often enough to recreate it in his imagination. 

Didn’t they get it? He was never getting out. His team was gone, his daughter had probably given up on him, and the case was open and shut. His life was over, and he’d been tortured for information by actual pros, so some squishy state-appointed head-case was hardly going to break him. 

God knows where McGarrett had ended up anyway, so it wasn’t like he had anything to give them. 

**\--- 6 months ago ---**

“Yo, Steve!” Danny shuffled into HQ backwards, pulling a cart laden with equipment from the ops van. Typically, when it had come time to clean out the truck after an afternoon of fruitless surveillance, Steve was nowhere to be found, leaving Danny to pack away the unreasonable amount of ordinance that managed to find its way in there. It was like an Easter egg hunt, only you were looking for grenades.

“Sorry Danny, Steve skipped out already. Said he had some “thing”. He was his usual specific self,” Kono said, looking up from the smart table where she was running down a lead. “You want a hand with that, brah?” she asked, but Danny waved her away. No point in ruining two people’s days because his mood was less ‘ray of sunshine’ and more ‘kill me now’. Kono sensibly backed away as he shuffled past and headed for the lockup. 

He gazed fondly at his favourite assault rifle for longer than was strictly appropriate, imagining all the ways he could use it on one Steven J. McGarrett, but his chances of getting the drop on a Navy SEAL were admittedly not as good as he would like.

Chin appeared around the corner, with two mugs of coffee in hand.

“Chin, you are the best thing on this entire island right now,” Danny proclaimed, diving for the proffered mug like a man possessed. Chin just laughed affably and patted Danny on the shoulder.

“Cheer up brah, I’ve scheduled Steve to represent Five-0 for the budget meeting this month with the Governor. He thinks it’s about a heroin smuggling ring.” Chin was the kind of guy you didn’t want to piss off, Danny realised. 

“That’s fantastic in theory, but you do realise all he will do is requisition more RPGs.” Danny frowned, and took another gulp of coffee. 

“I have already hidden the requisition forms and briefed Grover. Their new administrator is a stickler for the right paperwork, so I don’t think it will go his way. You should leave the tidying up for tomorrow and go home. You look dead on your feet.” Chin said in a concerned tone. Maybe Chin was right, Danny did feel like he was listing a bit to one side. That would be the exhaustion and post-action adrenalin crash finally kicking in. 

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. An afternoon following a deranged SEAL as he chases criminals across the rooftops of downtown Honolulu apparently takes it out of a guy. Who knew?” Danny shook his head tiredly, and shoved the door of the armoury closed. It popped open again, and Danny slammed it three times before it finally stayed shut. His knee was starting to really hurt now that he thought about it. Maybe if Steve was here early tomorrow, he could deal with the mess. 

“Do you know where he went tonight? I asked Grover and he had no idea…” Chin asked as an afterthought. Since the last few incidents where Steve had decided to go off on his own troublemaking endeavours, the team had forced him to agree to at least let them know if he was up to something dangerous. Danny shook his head.

“No idea. I thought “a thing” was code for something Cath-related, but now that I think about it, she’s not back from Afghanistan for another two weeks, if she’s coming back at all.“ Danny checked his phone for any missed calls from his wayward partner. His phone was its usual sad indictment of his lack of social life. No new messages. 

“Hmm” was all Chin said, but his shrug adequately conveyed “it’s McGarrett, what are you gonna do”. Danny just hoped the bastard hadn’t absconded with his new Camaro as well. 

“I’ll see you two tomorrow,” Danny called out for Kono’s benefit, and headed out the door and away from another crazy day. Since he’d explosively parted company with Amber, he’d been something of a hermit. Maybe he’d hit up a bar and see if Steve was in the mood for some beers. 

His Camaro wasn’t in the parking lot.


	2. Chapter 2

**\--- Halawa Prison --- 10:30 AM**

Danny is brought back into the room again; psych-eval number one hundred and twelve. As usual, the steel chair is there, mocking him.

But when he looks over to where his human nemesis would be, he’s startled by gentle brown eyes and a haunted expression. Chin looks like he’s seen better days, and Danny feels like shit all over again.

“Hey brah, how are you holding up?” Chin's voice is cautious. Danny resists the urge to cry, but only just. With no-one but the guards who won’t talk to him, and a shrink who’s out to get him, Danny is taken aback by the emotion of seeing a friendly face.

Danny almost doesn’t trust his voice to speak. Chin holds a hand up to the glass in a parody of their usual handshake, but Danny is so damn grateful, he doesn’t even stop to think how ridiculous he looks slapping his own palm up against the glass. 

“I’m good man. Hanging in there,” Danny says finally. Why Chin has been allowed to see him now, after all this time nags at his subconscious, but Danny is too happy to think about that now. 

“We all miss you. Kono wanted to come, but they only let one of us so we had to flip for it. Kamekona was threatening to sit on the cop they sent over to make them change their mind,” Chin says, smiling tightly.

“Oh god, I would have loved to have seen that.” Danny laughs, loud and genuine. He really fucking misses them.

“I have some news,” Chin says, solemnly, and Danny’s face falls. This is the thing he’s been waiting to hear for the last 6 months, and knowing it was coming hasn’t made it any less awful. 

“Where is he?” Danny asks.

“In custody. They’re charging him with treason, among other things.” Danny almost falls over, sitting heavily into the cursed steel chair. 

“Fuck,” Danny says eloquently. 

“They found him in Nevada. He was hiding out in one of Stan’s condos,” Chin tells him, holding out a photo of Steve crossing a busy Las Vegas street. Danny’s eyes catch on the gauntness of Steve’s face, the depth of the shadows under his eyes, and the way his shirt seems to hang off the sharp edges of his shoulders. It reminds him of how Steve looked when they first met in the garage, like a wild dog starved for a meal and twice as suspicious. There’s nothing of the man Danny has come to call his best friend and it chills him to think that Steve has fallen back on old habits. It almost hurts to look at him.

“You know they can’t ask for the death penalty here, but they’re going for consecutive life-sentences without the chance of parole, because he’s apparently a danger to society,” Chin says. Danny laughs a little hysterically.

“I’ve been saying that for years and no one took me seriously!” He pauses, sucking in a shuddering breath. “I told him to lay low! He wasn’t supposed to get caught.” Danny sits up, rubs angrily at his eyes and starts pacing the length of the tiny room. 

“Danny, I know why you did this for him, but Grace wants to see her father again. You can’t keep your life on hold like this for him, especially now that he’s been apprehended.” Chin tries to sound reasonable, but it’s like a red rag to a bull for Danny.

“You think I don’t know what I’m missing, Chin? Grace is my life, you know that. She’s safe while I’m in here. If the truth about what really happened got out, you know what they would do. They already took the job away from me and I lost my best friend in the process, and that was bad enough.” Danny starts to shake, and rests his head against the glass separating them. 

“Calm down Danny, I’m sorry. Look, I just wanted to give you the heads up that this might all come unravelled. Steve won’t be put in the general population; he’ll be in isolation like you. Kamekona is working on something for the two of you, but for now, I need you to sit tight and stay strong, okay?” The guard gives Chin a pointed look and gestures to his watch. Chin pats the glass where Danny is slumped over, and steps out of the booth. 

Danny is so out of it, he barely notices the guards picking him up and dragging him back to his cell. 

**\--- 6 months ago ---**

The new Camaro rumbles to a stop in Danny’s driveway, but the sound is muffled by the wall of the house. Steve staggers out of the front seat, leaving bloody handprints all over the paintwork as he makes his way over to the front door. He fumbles slightly with the keys, trying to be quiet and find the right one at the same time. Finally the key slides into the lock and Steve pushes his way inside.

\---  
Danny is asleep on the couch when Steve appears, looming over him in the dark. At first he’s just surprised, thinking Steve’s goofing off again, but the light flicks on and suddenly Steve drops to his knees on the carpet. His face and clothes are covered in blood and he has an unseeing but slightly wild look in his eyes.

“Steve, what the hell?” Danny struggles upright and takes in his partner’s alarming appearance. There’s a sizeable wound bleeding sluggishly over his right temple and his bottom lip is split, which explains the majority of blood on his face, but there are misted droplets and larger globs decorating what was a white shirt only a handful of hours ago. He wasn’t wearing his Kevlar, but he looked like he had been into battle.

“I’m sorry about the carpet Danno,” is the first thing he says, and Danny realises that there is now a large smear of blood staining the area around Steve’s knees. A few more drips have fallen out of his hair. Danny knows something is very wrong if Steve is apologising already.

“Jesus Christ you scared the hell out of me. What’s wrong, are you hit?” Danny checks him over meticulously, peeling up the tacky shirt and discarding it, but apart from the blood and some bruising, there is no sign of knife wounds or other damage. Steve is uncharacteristically pliant. It’s frankly freaking Danny out, because if there’s one thing Super SEAL usually loves, it’s blood and mayhem. Despite his apparent cooperativeness, his muscles stand out in stark relief against the shine of the blood covering him, and he looks like a coiled spring of tension. 

“I’m fine Danno. I’m not hit, I’m just a little fuzzy,” Steve says automatically, dropping his head down to his chest as Danny gently examines the wound on his head. “I’m sorry.” His head lolls forward onto Danny’s shoulder.

“Stop with the sorry already. Geez. What’s the matter with you? Can you tell me what happened?” Danny asks, tentatively, lifting Steve’s head back so he can look into his eyes. His pupils are huge black pools and there is a rough looking scratch around his throat. He also smells strongly of smoke.

“I shot seven people and blew up the building.” And that’s all Steve says, before passing out and drooping sideways onto the floor. 

Danny almost breaks his spine pulling Steve off the floor and up onto the couch, but he gets him sitting up well enough that he probably won’t choke. He takes in the sight of the blood smeared from one end of the lounge to the other, and resolves to buy fifty gallons of bleach and save it for when Steve is conscious again. He’s seen Steve with head injuries before but to actually black out… it’s giving him serious alarm bells. He should be in hospital, but without knowing what‘s going on, even trying to go outside could be too dangerous. Danny hates not knowing things.

He calls Chin immediately anyway, and checks he and Leilani can stop by and at least give some semblance of a professional opinion on Steve’s stupid head. He then sets about cleaning up as much of the mess as possible. Grace would be traumatised by the sight when she got up for school in the morning, and although it would amuse him to see Steve woken up by high-pitched screaming, he was actually pretty worried. Steve looks bad. 

Danny slides down onto the ground and beside the couch, and begins to wipe the worst of the blood off Steve’s face. He rinses the towel out in a bucket of disinfectant, and attacks the drying splashes across his ribs next. He must hit a bruise because soon Steve is groaning and curling away.

Steve starts to sag to one side, an eye blearily dropping open, and searching for a point of focus. Danny gently places an ice-pack covered in a towel above his right eye, and Steve manages to track him eventually, gaze settling on Danny’s concerned face. 

“How long was I out?” he asks, almost as though he’s afraid of the answer.

“No more than ten minutes. I called Leilani, she’s coming to check on you. I can’t believe you drove my car like that. You could barely see,” Danny says, reaching for Steve’s hand and bringing it up to his head to hold the ice-pack in place.

“Thanks. I can’t go to the hospital right now. I need to lay low,” Steve winces as he pushes a little too hard on the wound. 

“Jesus Steve, I thought we agreed that there would be no more crazy side-missions. I’m your partner, and I should have your back. But I can’t do that if you keep running off without me,” Danny whisper-shouts, glaring at Steve. “I hope your head fucking hurts.” He adds, waspishly. 

Danny turns his back to Steve and rests against the couch cushions, leaning his head against Steve’s side. He's warm, and still slightly tacky from the disinfectant, but Danny can feel Steve’s heart beating strongly against his ribs, so it's kind of soothing. 

“Danno. Don’t be upset. I know what we said, but it was an extenuating circumstance,” Steve responds in what he hopes passes for a conciliatory tone. Danny isn’t fooled.

“Your whole life is an extenuating circumstance! I have so many new grey hairs this evening thanks to you. Steve, how many times do I gotta watch you nearly get yourself killed? It’s bad for my heart.” Danny says, voice breaking slightly at the end. He curses himself for the vulnerable hitch in his voice, but dammit, Steve is important to him. More than the bastard deserved.

“It’s going to be okay. This is a going to be a little messy, and they’re probably going to issue a warrant for my arrest as soon as they find the bodies, but I’m on to something really significant here Danny, and I can’t let it go. This goes right up the ladder.” Steve coughs a little, and Danny helps him with the glass of water on the coffee table. 

“So what, you kicked some governmental hornet’s nest again?” Danny asks, although he knows what Steve will say.

“You could say that. I think someone is planning another attack on the island, and this time they have sufficient backing to make it happen. They were going to get away with it too, but I took out their operatives tonight. I just need to find the paper-trail evidence to prove it and the conspiracy can be stopped.” Steve stares into the middle distance, still dazed.

“Conspiracy? Are you nuts! Steve, you were an intelligence officer for god’s sake. You know these things never shake out the way you hope. I think you need to get out of here, before they revoke your passport and put you on the no-fly list…” He takes a breath and continues in a low, hurt tone. “…Steve, you need to think about something other than your crazy suicidal agendas. I know things with Cath aren’t going great at the moment, but there are other people who care about you and don’t want to see you get hurt.” Danny says vehemently, standing up and reaching for his phone where he dropped it on the TV stand. 

“Danno, they knew I was coming. They know about Five-0 and had files on all of us. We’ve seen this kind of thing before, and you’re all going to be at risk. I couldn’t let them get away.” Steve says, trying to explain.

“And yet you still walked in there. Steve, we stick together no matter what. You should have called me.” 

“And what, let them implicate you too?” Steve fires back.

“They’re probably gonna do that anyway!” Danny hisses.

Steve stays silent, breathing out harshly through his nose, and Danny leaves him alone to stew. He has some important calls to make.


	3. Chapter 3

**\--- Halawa Prision --- 10:45 AM**

“Williams, you’re late.” The psychiatrist looks pissed. Danny feels a petty stab of triumph in his gut.

“Yeah well, places to go, people to see. You know how it goes,” Danny snipes back and sits in the chair, rolling his sleeves up.

“I see that you had a visitor yesterday.” The psychiatrist checks his notes and tries for a surprised affectation at that revelation. Danny knew that it was a calculated move on the part of his new masters in another attempt to manipulate him so he just glares back, unconvinced.

Even if they give him something he wants, and he has no plans to be any more cooperative.

“Yeah, and he told me you have McGarrett. So why do you need me anymore, huh? You got what you wanted anyway.” Danny sucks back the violent outburst that is trying to claw its way out of his throat.

“As you know McGarrett is trained to withstand interrogation and torture. He’s not been especially forthcoming.” The psychiatrist looks like the admission physically pains him.

“That’s too bad. My heart breaks for you, it really does,” Danny cracks his knuckles and stares through his own reflection into the darkened room beyond. The psychiatrist doesn’t meet his gaze.

“How’s your claustrophobia? I hear you haven’t had an incident since you started taking the medication I prescribed you.” The psychiatrist flips through his notes, scribbling into the margins.

“I see how it is. Well, do your worst asshole. I’ll sit in my tiny box and hyperventilate and you’ll still have nothing,” Danny says.

“I am sure that we can come to an arrangement for your cooperation. A reduction in your sentence perhaps?” The guy has the same smarmy expression on his face that Danny had come to loathe. It always preceded something insulting. “After all,” he said, knowingly, “you never know when they might decide to take you out of the equation entirely.”

Danny pauses. The DA had already offered him deal after deal to testify against Steve. But to outright suggest that they would have him killed for what he knew if he couldn’t be turned and made useful, that was a new level of unfortunateness. He needed to figure out a new tactical approach; one that now included staying alive in a place like Halawa. Great.

“Listen to me you slime-ball. I’m not doing this out of some sense of loyalty to my co-worker. To be honest, that man has nearly gotten me killed more times than I can count, and it’s because of his impulse control issues that we’re here right now. I want to know that my family will be safe. If that’s going to be guaranteed by my testimony, then so be it. But I have terms.”

Danny is flying by the seat of his pants, but he needs to buy time to figure out an exit strategy. If they were coming for him now, his only chance is to play along. “I want to see him. He may not talk to you, but he’ll talk to me,” Danny says, hoping his voice doesn’t betray how badly he wants to see Steve.

“Of course.” The shrink looks pleased as he takes his notes and stands up, disappearing into the shadows at the back of the booth. “I’ll see you tomorrow Williams, and we’ll discuss this further.”

Danny’s head is reeling with the possibility of his imminent demise if this goes sideways. He has to get a message to Steve to be ready.

\---

Grace Williams is not a loudmouth like her father, but there are certain times when the expression of that particular genetic trait is hard to disguise. Lucy holds her back by the shoulders as she lunges at the teen boy who is currently laughing in her face.

“Tommy if you say one more word I swear I’m going to…”

“Going to what? Murder me? I guess being a criminal really runs in the family huh Grace?” Tommy spits back at her.

“Grace, he’s not worth it. Walk away!” Lucy tries to pull her friend away from the temptation to lay Tommy flat with an Uncle Steve right hook special. Tommy is lucky he’s not a grease smear on the linoleum.

Of the two of girls, Grace is the least adept at the whole fighting thing, having been more into Cheerleading than Karate, but after their various misadventures with the criminal element of Hawaii, she’s picked up a few things. Steve had taken it upon himself to expand the Aloha Girls’ curriculum extensively after their ill-fated camping trip.

Despite Grace being convinced that Steve and Danny would have been banned for life after that disaster, the other parents had been surprisingly grateful for their involvement. But it was Danny who had cautioned them about the “great power equals great responsibility” rule, because Steve was never one to acknowledge that there were times and places where extreme force was not appropriate.

So what that all amounts to is a great deal of frustration on Grace’s part, and Tommy is allowed to continue breathing, for now.

“Grace, you can’t let it get to you like that,” Lucy says in exasperation, as her friend stares stonily at the emptying hallway. The bell is ringing and it’s time for the next class, but Grace just walks mechanically towards the back door and exits through it, leaving Lucy standing adrift in the hallway.

“You’ll get a detention!” Lucy shouts after her, watching her retreating back with a sense of helpless frustration.

Theo Clark watches the whole scene as it unfolds and winces in sympathy. He’s never had much to do with Grace Williams, for obvious reasons, but he is probably the only person at this school who understands what she is going through. Detective Williams is one of the many spectres that hovers over Theo’s sense of identity; his role in the destruction of Theo’s father’s criminal empire had been formative to say the least.

Although his dad is well and truly out of the picture and he’s changed his last name away from Soo, Theo can’t avoid the sick feeling he gets every time he thinks about the months after his father’s arrest. He still feels the stigma of his dad’s failings and has never really forgiven him for abandoning Theo’s mother when things got bad. But at the end of the day, it's the other children parroting their parent’s ill-informed opinions that really cause him grief. He was a pariah then, and he's still reminded of it now by bullies who just won’t let it go.

He walks tentatively towards Grace, who is sitting on the embankment by the stairs, angrily crushing a collection of the small palm nuts that litter the ground. He knows that feeling well.

“I could get you a bigger rock if that would help,” he offers.

“Why are you talking to me?” Grace looks up, suspicious.

“Because you look like you needed someone to talk to,” Theo responds, sitting down a few feet away on the edge of the garden bed.

“I’d rather be alone, thanks,” Grace buries her head in her arms and heaves out a sigh.

“Look, I know I’ve pretty much avoided you since I started here, but I know a little something about what you’re dealing with.” Theo’s smile is brittle when she turns to face him.

“My father is innocent. Sang Min is a drug-dealing human trafficker. I don’t see how you can possibly know what I’m going through.” Grace’s superior attitude irks Theo, and any sympathy he had is starting to evaporate.

“I know what it’s like to be judged unfairly for something you had no control over,” Theo replies, getting up and dusting off his jeans, “and I thought you might understand that. I guess I was wrong.”

He leaves her sitting there, stunned back to silence. Sometimes all you need when the chips are down is someone to pull your head out of your own ass, but Theo’s pretty sure she’s stubborn enough to ignore the olive branch.

“I’m sorry.” Her voice is little more than a whisper, but Theo hears it anyway. She's more sorry for herself than his situation, he guesses.

“See you around Williams,” He throws back, and heads inside to class.

\---

Steve stares at the concrete in front of his face as it goes in and out of his field of focus.

Up, down, hold the core, balance on the toes and press with the arms. There’s something soothing in the monotony of a simple push-up. He pauses and holds the plank for as long as he can, letting his body burn until the muscles start to wobble and shake. He may not have much in the way of obvious visible scars, despite Hesse’s shoddy knife-work, but the memory of spilling his guts all over the prison yard is ever present, now that he’s again surrounded by the sounds and smells of Halawa.

He lies down face first on the concrete and breathes out, blowing a curtain of dust away from his face. Rest and repeat. Don’t think about Danny.

\---

Danny gets it out of the guard eventually. He isn’t sure he’s succeeded at first with his roundabout indirect questioning, but the guard confirms that a prisoner with the name McGarrett has been interned on the same block but in a separate area. Danny almost cries. Steve is right there, behind the wire and glass and soundproof concrete, in another solitary confinement cell, awaiting his fate.

He searches the room for some way to communicate but there is nothing, not even an air-vent. Danny screams in frustration, but the sound doesn’t make it past the outer door, and Steve remains oblivious to his friend’s efforts.

It’s probably for the best anyway, Danny reasons. They need to think he isn’t on Steve’s side anymore, and in a leaky ship like Halawa it’s pretty much guaranteed someone will tattle to the DA if they start corresponding. But that doesn’t mean he has to like it.


	4. Chapter 4

**\--- Danny’s Apartment --- 2:30am (6 Months Earlier)**

“Well, my diagnosis would be blunt force head trauma. But we already knew that.” Leilani peers at Steve’s seriously dilated pupils. “Nothing hurts anywhere else? You got caught in the ribs pretty good…” She gently palpates Steve’s lower right side where a boot-print bruise has formed in a very distinctive pattern. He can’t quite hold in the groan at the press of her fingers, but she doesn’t find any breaks or other signs that would concern her too much.

“Am I gonna live, Doc?” Steve looks at her with an unintentionally cock-eyed expression, and Danny resolves to revoke his driving privileges for the next millennium.

“Probably. I’d like an MRI of your head, but from what Danny tells me, we’re just going to have to hope your brain doesn’t swell. I’ve seen loads of this sort of injury at the prison, but judging the severity is never an exact science, without the proper diagnostic tools,” she reprimands him.

“Yeah well, I’ve had enough head injuries to know this one doesn’t feel too bad,” Steve says agreeably.

“If it gets worse, it will be because I have lost it and put you through the kitchen wall,” Danny mutters.

“Either way, call me if you start to feel sick or dizzy and we’ll find a way to get you some help.” Leilani pats him consolingly on the shoulder and looks pointedly at Chin.

“Steve, what’s the plan here? I’ve called Kono and Grover in to the office to get ahead of this thing, but without knowing what we’re dealing with we’re really behind the eightball,” Chin says, pulling a handful of beers out of the fridge and handing one each to Danny and Leilani.

Steve looks put out for a moment at being overlooked, but winces when he moves his head too far to the left.

“Tell Kono to look into the latest batch of gubernatorial candidates. The election will be held in three months’ time and one of the front-runners is a puppet for an international terrorist ring...” Steve holds out a piece of paper that’s covered in blood.

“This is the list of names or aliases of the crew I took out tonight – a number of them had government IDs but they tried to shoot me when I identified myself.” Steve’s voice is still scratchy from where one of them had tried to strangle him during the fight.

Danny makes him a fresh glass of iced water and hands it over, pressing it into Steve’s palm and wrapping his fingers around the glass carefully before letting go. Steve gives him a small but grateful smile, and sets the icy glass against his split lip.

“Danno, what’s going on?” Grace appears from her room, finally awakened by the less than quiet discussion in the kitchen.

“Nothing sweetheart, it’s fine – just a work thing. Go back to bed.” Danny tries to head her off at the pass and pushes her back up the hall, but she catches a look at Steve’s face and ducks under Danny’s arm.

“Uncle Steve! Oh my god. Are you okay?” Grace rushes over to where Steve is propped up against the counter. Danny’s cleaning efforts aside, Steve still looks like he is about to pass out. But he holds out his arms and pulls Grace into a gingerly hug anyway.

“I’m okay munchkin. You should see the other fifty guys,” he jokes. Grace clings to him, and glares balefully at Danny.

“Danno, why didn’t you wake me up? Uncle Steve is hurt!” Grace says in a sleepy bewildered tone. Now that she’s getting older Danny is having a hard time keeping her away from the less savoury aspects of the job. She always takes it poorly when anyone on the team gets injured in the line of duty.

Danny has tried to keep that kind of thing to himself but Grace always seems to find out, and not telling her only seems to make her more upset. He sighs, preparing to explain, but Steve cuts him off.

“Danno didn’t want you to worry kiddo, besides, I’ll be fine,” Steve says, squeezing her gently before letting her go.

Danny smiles encouragingly at her, and tries to bury his paternal pride when Grace accepts Steve’s explanation like it’s no big deal. She’s been turning to Steve more and more as an arbiter on their arguments, and while it pains Danny to admit that Grace is a teenager with her own life now, he’s still comforted by the fact that she accepts Steve’s rulings even when they’re not in her favour.

Danny never thought that he’d be co-parenting with a Navy SEAL, but without Rachel around much, Grace did need a neutral party she could trust. Steve seemed to take that one responsibility seriously and never undercut Danny on anything really important. But when the two of them ganged up, Danny had to admit he was pretty powerless to resist. Steve has been one unexpected constant in their lives and Danny is still surprised at how much of an effort Steve makes to be there for Grace whenever she needs him.

“Right, well, we’ll get going over to your place to pick up your overnight bag. You should call Kamekona and let him know you won’t be at lunch tomorrow,” Chin says to Steve, using the code for the emergency passports and money. They all rush down the last of the beer, depositing the empty bottles in the trash, and the others leave Steve and Grace in the kitchen.

“Thanks Chin, Leilani.” Danny follows them out and watches them climb on Chin’s bike. He hates to do this to Chin again, especially when things are finally back to normal and Chin isn’t looking over his shoulder for the next stab in the back.

Now that he has a relationship with Leilani and some stability, Danny is loathe to involve Chin any more than is necessary, but he has to admit the guy’s Zen-like calm is a lifeline Danny is reluctant to let go of.

He waits until the lone tail-light is a speck in the distance, before heading back inside. They need a plan soon or there will be swarms of Honolulu’s finest on their doorstep. Then it would all be over.

**\--- Halawa Prision --- 9 AM**

Danny’s lawyer sits across from him, holding a sheaf of papers and wearing the same sour-faced expression he always does when forced to directly communicate with Danny. The guy is technically Stan’s lawyer, but he’s been given to Danny as a demonstration of Stan’s continued benevolence to his wife’s ex-husband. He seems determined to be the bigger man despite how hostile Danny has been towards him.

Danny isn’t about to look a thousand dollar an hour gift horse in the mouth though, and girds himself for yet another round of “why you’re still incarcerated, you idiot.” Stan may be a good guy at heart, but he has friends in unsavoury places and is able to provide Danny with the best bulldog criminal defence lawyer money can buy. He is doing it for Grace, or so he’d said. Privately, Danny thought it was just the only way Stan could continue his campaign to passive-aggressively control Danny’s life.

“This is good news Mr Williams.” The lawyer browses the papers in front of him, pulling out the parts that Danny needs to sign.

“You’ll forgive me if I don’t jump for joy,” Danny replies, reaching for the prison issue safety pen.

“The new Governor is very concerned about this potential attack on the island, and the information you have is obviously quite valuable. I’d be thanking your lucky stars,” he says smirking at Danny’s obvious distaste. “Besides, you’ll want to be wearing something more inspiring than prison orange when you see Grace next.” He needles Danny with the unfriendly reminder.

“You wish you looked this good in orange,” Danny fires back, signing the proffered pages with his usual unintelligible signature.

“Let’s hope I never have to find out. They’ve arranged a meeting for you with your former workmate. If you manage what you’ve promised and get the details of the attack, you’ll be allowed to serve the rest of your reduced sentence under house arrest until you testify at the trial of Steve McGarrett.” The guy gathers up the documents and slips them back into his ugly but expensive-looking briefcase. It probably costs more than Danny’s yearly salary, not to mention the guy’s suit. Danny hopes a less-polite member of the Halawa population spits on him on his way out.

Danny is led back to his cell to bide his time until they collect him for his meeting with Steve. He distracts himself with trying to improve his general appearance, but there’s little to be done about his hair which hasn’t seen proper product in months. He has a small safety mirror on the wall, and he looks at himself critically. His beard has more grey than blond these days, and he’s lost weight, leaving his face looking leaner. His shoulders are still broad and strong though, and he just hopes that he doesn’t get any more night-time visits from the less reputable guards who seem to enjoy decorating him with bruises.

He hadn’t put much effort into his appearance since his arrival, having lost the will and fallen into a sense of despondent apathy that was compounded by the anti-anxiety meds he’s been eating like skittles. But knowing that he’d be seeing Steve soon, he wanted to look like he was the same old Danno. Steve’s guilt complex was bad enough without him having to see Danny looking like barely warmed up shit, as a direct result of his actions. Danny had forgiven Steve the moment he staggered in the door that night, and come hell or high water, their friendship would survive.


	5. Chapter 5

**\--- Danny’s House --- 3:45am --- 6 Months Ago ---**

Steve emerges from the shower that Danny had manhandled him into looking slightly more presentable, but his wounds have started bleeding again slightly where the soap has abraded the skin. Danny sits him down in the kitchen to reapply the butterfly bandages and to dab on some more of the cream Leilani left for Steve. Steve winces slightly, but he lets Danny work on him without complaint.

Grace is making pancakes, determinedly staying awake for the duration no matter what Danny tells her. Her cheer practice starts at 6:30 anyway, and Danny is just hopeful he can still convince her everything is fine for the next few hours.

Kamekona arrives shortly before the first batch is about to fry, and Danny has to laugh at the man’s singular ability to commandeer anything vaguely food related. Soon he’s demoted Grace to sous-chef and is adding the entire contents of Danny’s fridge to the pan.

“Kame, we don’t really have the time for this.” Steve tries, wanting to derail him before Kamekona can go overboard.

“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, McGarrett. Besides, you look like you need a special pick-me-up.” Danny rolls his eyes, and goes to double check the other provisions Kamekona has brought with him. Chin had enacted the emergency protocol and now there was a large duffel sitting ominously in Danny’s living room that would enable Steve to disappear immediately. He’s booked on a plane to Seoul in an hour and a half, and although he tries not to, Danny is worried this breakfast will be their last meal together for a long time.

Kono arrives shortly after breakfast bringing a bag laden with cleaning supplies and giving Steve all the intel she’s managed to cobble together so far. It’s not much, but it’s a place to start. She and Steve share a whispered conversation in Danny’s tiny office, but he doesn’t listen in. Kono leaves shortly after that, wiping a stray tear from her eyes, and hugging Danny fiercely on the way out the door.

“We’ll fix this Danny, I promise,” she says, before rushing off like a wraith into the dawn to follow whatever special instructions Steve has given her. Danny shuts the door behind her and rests his forehead on the cool paintwork, swallowing the urge to scream at the wall. The voices down the hall draw him back from the edge of a prickly hot burst of anxiety and Danny shoves the panic back down for at least another hour.

Steve is patiently listening to Grace talk about her history project, and helpfully offers his advice for places to find good information for her research. He has a soft but slightly wistful look on his face that he quickly schools away when he meets Danny’s gaze across the room. But the moment of anguish before the mask slips back down leaves Danny feeling hopeless. Apparently the gravity of the situation is sinking in for Steve, and Danny wonders if he realizes how settled in to life in Hawaii he truly is. He has a family again, and now it’s all at risk.

Danny eats, but the food sits heavily in his stomach. In order for Steve to find out who is behind these threats, he can’t be locked up, and while Danny just wants to tell the whole conspiracy to go fuck itself, he can’t help the desire to make sure the city stays safe from whatever dangers lie ahead. Steve tells Grace he has to go overseas for a few weeks, and that he’ll be back before she knows it, but Danny can tell she only half believes him when she clings that much tighter during their goodbye hug.

Danny sends her inside to get ready for school, and suddenly it’s just the two of them standing in the dawn light as Kamekona’s car idles on the footpath.

“I’m sorry…” Steve starts, but Danny cuts him off.

“Don’t! Look, don’t apologise to me. We had an agreement, and that agreement means I stick by my partner even when he doesn’t think before he leaps,” Danny says, angling his body so Steve doesn’t see the blood smeared on the side of the Camaro.

“Danny, there’s loyalty and then there’s jumping off the cliff behind me,” Steve replies, resting his hands on Danny’s shoulders.

“Whatever happens, you know they’re going to come after Five-0. We’re ready for that. I’m not going to do anything that puts you in more trouble. Besides, we have to stop this before they can complete their plan.” Danny’s voice hardens, shoulders going even more tense under Steve’s hands.

“You could come with me…” Steve’s voice is quiet but hopeful, and Danny sways a bit on his feet. He wants nothing more than to follow Steve, to have his back while he tumbles down this latest rabbit-hole, and his head aches at the thought of Steve out there alone. But he knows he can’t leave, not really.

Steve doesn’t let him respond, just breathes out Grace’s name with an air of finality.

“Yeah. I can’t leave her Steve. And I know there’s a threat out there and my first impulse is to take her the hell away from this island, but I can’t. It’s our home and we have to protect it. Grace wants to live here, and not just because of me.” Steve nods as Danny rambles. He’s heard the same speech a few times before.

“I know, and it’s not safe for Grace with me now either,” Steve sighs sadly. “Danno, you have to cooperate with the authorities. They’ll bring you in for questioning once I disappear. I’ll do everything I can to make sure these people fail in whatever they’re planning so that you and Grace will be safe. Take care of everyone.” Steve crushes him into a hug, barely mindful of the bruising that must still be hurting. Danny grips the fabric of his shirt in white-knuckled fingers, and buries his head against Steve’s neck, inhaling the smell of the cotton overlaid with the traces of disinfectant and metallic blood that still lingers there.

“Please be careful. I love you.” Danny whispers into Steve’s shirt front, and although he’s said those words a thousand times over the course of their partnership, it’s never felt like a goodbye. Steve pulls back and rests their foreheads together, bending down so their eyes are the same height.

“Take care of Gracie and yourself. I love you too, man.” Steve stares searchingly at him for a long moment, before standing back and raising himself to his full height. Danny’s hands unclench from Steve’s t-shirt against his will and then abruptly he’s standing alone in his driveway. The car drives away, taking Steve with it.

**\--- Halawa Prison --- 8 AM**

Another day passes and he still hasn’t been taken to see Steve. Danny is starting to worry that something has happened and they’re just not telling him. But it takes time and money to grease the right palms to get anything done at Halawa, and Danny reasons with himself that it’s nothing more than a bureaucratic hold up. Danny is dragged before the psychiatrist again in the morning, and deposited abruptly into his favorite chair.

“Williams, how are we this fine morning?” The guy is uncharacteristically chipper. It sets Danny’s teeth on edge.

“Another day in paradise.” Danny replies, shifting in the seat and pondering the reason behind this unscheduled interrogation.

“And how are you feeling about seeing your partner again after all this time?” The psychiatrist cuts straight to it, and Danny almost laughs. He’s not sure he can put into words how he’s feeling right now, but they obviously want to make sure he doesn’t plan to kill their prize criminal before he can stand trial.

“I just want to get it over with so I can get on with my life,” Danny says, hoping that’s what the guy wants to hear.

“I’m pleased to hear you’re finally able to be reasonable about this, Williams. But I would exercise some caution. Your partner may not be so reasonable. He’s killed a lot of people, and it would be unfortunate if you were unable to fulfil your obligations.” Danny smirks internally. Obviously Steve has been doing his Neanderthal act again and is making the guards nervous.

“You let me worry about that. I’ll get your information. Steve will tell me. He still trusts me,” Danny says with confidence. No matter what has happened to Steve over the last six months, Danny honestly believes they’re past keeping secrets from each other.

“Yes, I imagine he does…” The psychiatrist says, and holds up a photo that Danny hasn’t seen before, but instantly recognises the contents. “This was in the first batch of documents sent over in relation to McGarrett’s case,” he says, and Danny gets up to take a closer look at the picture being held up to the glass. The photo was obviously taken at a great distance, but despite the poor light, the details are clear. Danny almost doesn’t recognise the expression on his own face, but the look on Steve’s face is one that’s stayed with him all this time. They’re hugging in Danny’s driveway, and the photo was taken just before Steve disappeared.

“Would you care to elaborate on the nature of your relationship with Steve McGarrett?” The psychiatrist asks, pleased to finally have Danny at a disadvantage.

Danny sits back down, struggling to contain the emotional fallout from being taken back to that moment in time. He has to diffuse the situation before they abandon his deal and charge him as a co-conspirator.

“I know what it looks like, but I can assure you, whatever you’re thinking is wrong,” Danny says, trying to sound like he’s not screaming on the inside. “Steve and I were friends, and then I was falsely imprisoned for something he did. If you think for a second that that picture in any way resembles the current state of my feelings towards McGarrett, you’re mistaken.” The psychiatrist looks sceptical, but abandons his initial direction, instead asking Danny about his own case.

“You’ve protested your innocence before, Williams. But the forensic evidence doesn’t lie. Your car was seen at the scene, and one of your weapons was used to kill a government employee,” the psychiatrist says, holding up the report from the crime scene. Steve’s handiwork was impressive, Danny would give him that.

“Steve is always borrowing my car, and as for that gun, it was in the lock-up at Five-0 headquarters last I saw it. It wasn’t my primary weapon.” Danny rests forward, elbows on his knees, trying to relieve some of the tension through his nervous system. His leg has been twinging the last few weeks from the lack of movement, and Danny just hopes he’s not forced to run for his life any time soon or jump off any roofs.

“So it was a conspiracy, like McGarrett said?” The psychiatrist scribbles another note in the notepad.

“I’m just saying that you shouldn’t take what is presented in that report at face value,” Danny says, and ignores the rustling papers from the other room.

“Take him back. We’re done here.” The psychiatrist gestures to the guards, and Danny is unceremoniously removed from the room.


End file.
